1st Quarter Wrap Up – News Trends & Stories

“Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.” ~Michael Corleone, Godfather III

By Catherine Austin Fitts

The question we ask in our 1st Quarter Wrap Up is “Can a new administration preserve a prosperous economy without more debt, crime and war?” The question is steadily being answered with a resounding “No!”

The budget blueprint published by the President in March suggested that everyone would be pleased with more money – both the factions that want to keep the global empire going and the factions that want instead to rebuild American infrastructure and the core US Army – by simply throwing more money at the Department of Defense. The blueprint has no mention of the $11.5 trillion missing from the Department of Defense, including $6.5 trillion missing in fiscal 2015. Apparently, the new administration wants to continue the practice of spending money outside of Constitutional requirements and in violation of the laws related to financial management.

However, this imperial budget leaves no money for health care or, for that matter, for anything else. Expect the actual May budget submission to make for fascinating reading. Please read our 1st Quarter Wrap Up presentation on the Trump administration to understand the important issues – all of which the corporate media ignore.

This week Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reversed his position that Assad could stay, and the President ordered air strikes on Syria, claiming that Assad is responsible for alleged chemical weapons used in an attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib Province of Syria on Tuesday.

Steve Bannon was removed from the National Security Council this week. Steve is the guy who helped craft the inaugural message: “We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world – but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first. We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.”

Moving onto the National Security Council as Bannon was exiting was Goldman Sachs partner Dina Powell, who had used her Arab heritage and language skills in the Bush administration to help Condoleeza Rice engineer Middle Eastern wars that have killed over 1,000,000 Arabs. Powell’s appointment followed the President’s meeting on Friday with Rice, now a partner in RiceHadleyGates, LLC.

At the same time, the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner joined Marine General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff in meetings with US military advisors in Iraq.

While ordering air strikes against Syria, President Trump described the inhumanity of using chemical weapons on one’s own people. He did not mention how the use of chemical weapons in US-sponsored global spraying, vaccines, and narcotics trafficking likely killed more Americans this week than numbered in any of the various alleged Syrian death counts. Although the use of chemical weapons in Syria, and Assad’s responsibility has not yet been documented or proved, the chemical assault of the American government on its own people has been documented and proven repeatedly. Millions of people voted for Trump in the hope that he would stop US government chemical assaults on the American people.

Events in Syria likely have more to do with the preliminary European approvals of the Israel pipeline with Italy and Greece and the German and Scandinavian approvals of the Nord Stream II pipeline expansion with Russia than with our concern for the rights of the Syrian people. America is still using its post-9/11 strategy to make war on 7 countries as described by General Wesley Clark. With the approval of other pipelines, the feasibility of the Qatar-Turkey pipeline with transit through Syria becomes urgent. This is not just pipeline politics, however. The primacy of the US dollar as reserve currency depends on energy dominance.

However, President Trump would be wise to remember the words of General Colin Powell, “You break it, you own it.”

I will discuss these and other current events this week on Money & Markets. Dr. Joseph Farrell joins me for a discussion of News Trends & Stories for the 1st Quarter Wrap Up. Because we focused on the new administration last week, our focus this week is global markets and geopolitics as well as Science & Technology. We also discuss what inspired us the most these last three months.

Make sure to access the News Trends & Stories section of the 1st Quarter Wrap Up web presentation linked from your subscriber links in this commentary. Post and e-mail your questions for Ask Catherine.

News Trends and Stories

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About Us

Our mission is to help you live a free and inspired life. This includes building wealth in ways that build real wealth in the wider economy. We believe that personal and family wealth is a critical ingredient of both individual freedom and community health and well being.

Nothing on The Solari Report should be taken as individual investment advice. Anyone seeking investment advice for his or her personal financial situation is advised to seek out a qualified advisor or advisors and provide as much information as possible to the advisor in order that such advisor can take into account all relevant circumstances, objectives, and risks before rendering an opinion as to the appropriate investment strategy.

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